Author: DW

A ridge with sweeping views across Jotunheimen, a mountain region in southern Norway, seemed like the perfect hiking route for tour operator Georg Sichelschmidt to bring visitors. Then locals informed him it was home to nesting eagles. The trail remained open. But Sichelschmidt didn’t want to disturb the apex predators at home in the massive peaks, dotted with turquoise lakes and glaciers. “We decided not to use this trail anymore. We had to find another solution,” said Sichelschmidt, who runs nature-based tourism company JVB travel. Norway’s right-to-roam rules, known as allemannsretten, give people broad access to nature regardless of land…

For decades, debate in Iran over the Caspian Sea has often centered on a deceptively simple question: What percentage belongs to the country? Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan all border the body of water. But the Caspian is treated neither as a conventional sea nor simply as an international lake. Instead, the five countries have developed a special legal regime governing navigation, territorial waters, fishing, security and seabed resources. The most important step came in 2018, when the five presidents signed the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea in Aktau, Kazakhstan. It established territorial waters of…

There is probably no other sport in the world that has experienced a boom like Hyrox in recent years. What started as an idea in 2017 has, within just a few years, evolved into one of the fastest-growing fitness movements in the world. The format was developed by event organizer Christian Toetzke, communications expert Michael Trautmann, and Moritz Fürste, a former member of the German national field hockey team that won gold at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. Their basic idea was very simple: to create a competition that combines the atmosphere of a running event with the intensity of functional…

Often dressing in pastel colors, with wide-legged pants falling over her high heels, Italy’s first female prime minister can’t escape fashion scrutiny — and not only because Giorgia Meloni is the leader of the world’s fashion capital. “Fashion is a language — it tells us what its wearer wants to say without any actual words,” Michela Bonafoni, who teaches fashion at Unicollege in Florence, told DW.”Perhaps what you wear is very close to your personality. But if you want to give a different impression of yourself, you can also do this through clothing — this is what Meloni does constantly,” explained Bonafoni. Meloni began her…

1. How severe is Germany’s 2026 harvest decline? The German Farmers’ Association (DBV) on Tuesday warned of a “below-average” harvest due to ongoing drought that has left large areas of farmland severely parched. In a statement, DBV President Joachim Rukwied warned that the country’s grain harvest would be 7% lower than last year, blaming an “overly dry spring and a heat wave in the second half of June,” which had “significantly damaged many crops.” Overall grain production was expected to be 41.9 million tons this year, DBV said, a shortfall of some 3.3 million tons compared with 2025. Rapeseed saw the largest fall, with 3.3 million tons harvested, nearly 17%…

Hayden Panettiere, best known for her roles in US TV shows “Heroes” and “Nashville,” has died aged 36, US media reports said. “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her — and to the millions who watched her onscreen,” Panettiere’s father, Skip, was quoted by ABC news as saying. The cause of Panettiere’s death has not yet been announced. Her father has urged for privacy. She would have turned 37 on Friday.…

As if the vast scale of artificial intelligence (AI) investments wasn’t scary enough, the head of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund is also sounding the alarm. Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), warned last week that, in an extreme market collapse, a massive loss to its $2.4 trillion (€2.07 trillion) portfolio is “not completely improbable.” The fund, created to invest the Nordic country’s vast oil and gas revenues, delivered a record profit of 1,753 billion Norwegian kroner ($186 billion, €161 billion) in the first six months of the year. Nicolai Tangen, the head of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, has presided over…

The list of health risks associated with foods high in fat and low in fiber is long: low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) or “bad” cholesterol clogged arteries weight gain heart disease liver stress blood sugar spikes bad digestion And the list goes on. Now a team of German researchers has shown how so-called Western diets that are often full of fatty foods can lead to the development of one of the most common — and deadliest — cancers in adults under 50 years of age. The researchers from the Technical University of Munich, RWTH Aachen and the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrücke…

The Netherlands: Putting plants through their paces  How will the world feed 10 billion people with less land, less water and more unpredictable weather? The Netherlands, also known as the “Silicon Valley” of agriculture and seeds, knows a thing or two about it. It’s already the world’s second-largest exporter of agricultural products after the United States, despite being a fraction of the size.  Now, in some of the country’s greenhouses, scientists are using high-tech means, as well as reams of data, to figure out which crops will be most resilient in a changing climate. Can we build a climate-proof crop?To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to…

08/14/2026August 14, 2026What was the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, the reason WWII ordnances are strewn about the area?Tens of thousands of troops on both sides were killed or wounded in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest in World War IIImage: Oliver Berg/dpa/picture allianceFriday’s fire is taking place on the site of one of the longest and most costly single battles in the US military’s history. That’s why the area is strewn with unexploded munitions from World War II that are at risk of exploding, both aiding the fire’s spread and potentially endangering emergency services.  The Battle of Hürtgen Forest, or Schlacht…